These photos are just captured this morning on Nikon 600mm "rented", and 70-200mm with 30%-50% cropped.  

These pictures it was taken with -3 stops ND filter at f/16.  

Barren Ending

During our last trip to Maui we ran across a cemetery just off one of the major beaches. The land of the cemetery was completely barren for some reason. The cemetery was devided into two sections, one large section that was all Japanese and a much smaller section in the back that was all Italian. All of the graves were from the early 1900's.

It was a wierd site to see with it being barren and segregated.

Rough Land Diamonds

Handsome Blazing Star

 

Seems that every trip to the Wichitas a visit to the Badlands is made. A rough place that is usually void of any plant life but to be given high marks in colorful and odd rock formations. On the edge of the trail leading down to the exposed and hot terrain of the barren land grew this purple colored flowering plant. Elise Smith's guide told me it was a Blazing Star!

 

 

Making Seed

 

With their flower making days behind them, these lonely seed pods were just soaking in the sun and drying their tiny seeds. Optimists with great faith. Next spring there will be more of us, our colors will be brighter!

 

One of the purposes of this walkaround was I had just read an old publication where the author related that after a rain small diamonds could be found on the surface of this parched, rough land.  It had rained last night, and I had brought my sack!

 

Needless to say, there is no Diamond Necklace in anyone's future! But Who Knows? Maybe they are just laying there unseen and making seed in the sun. Next spring they will be larger, and the numbers will be many. I can see the Sparkle now! 

 

 

The Last Words

Curious Markings

 

Located by the falling and screaming man were these cinnabar colored letters from an unkown alphabet. Was this his epitaph carefully etched in stone?

 

 

Mystery Writings

 

In what age and by whom was the author of these mysterious symbols and markings? That is the question. I ruled out graffiti as it would require ropes and climbing gear to reach this spot. Natural occurence from when these mountains were formed? Perhaps.

 

 

Snake Symbol?

 

This is where the imagination kicks in. If the letters, symbols and numbers were actually made by a people from an ancient time period, the screaming man must have had significant meaning in their culture. Maybe he was just a shaman, bit by a rattler and sacrificed in pain to the spirits? LOL!

 

All the above pics were color enhanced and cropped to better show the faint symbols and letters.

 

Natural or made by Man. What do you think?

Nature imitating art?

I couldn't help but see Abbey Road when I had a look at the top picture in this post... So I had a little fun with Photoshop! I must be bored... LOL

Frozen In Time

Screaming Man

 

Not to be confused with the famous painting , The Scream, by Edvard Munch. Nature herself created this sculpture from solid granite, and it was built to last!

 

Perched high on the edge of a canyon wall the countenance can be seen when the light is just right so as to cast shadows on it's features. A good imagination also helps! 

 

 

 

Falling Man

 

In my minds eye it was easy to see the reason for the scream. This person was falling with nothing to stop the fall but the rocky canyon floor. The terror and scream must have been so intense it was Frozen in Time!

 

A few years back I was viewing a photographers work of the Wichita Mtns.Wildlife Refuge at a showing and happened to notice a b&w framed shot she called Falling Man. It was a haunting photo that stuck in my mind. I knew I had to find that location! I actually found and shot pics a year ago but it was the wrong time of day. These pics were shot last month at a later time of day. Used a feature called Focal Zoom in Picasa3 to give a falling effect!

 

Tomorrow, "The Last Words"!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain blob...

Well it wasn't really a rain bow because it didn't go anywhere, it was just there in the one place... More like a  blob than a bow. LOL

We've been getting a fair bit of rain over here on the Wet... er, I mean West Coast last few weeks, all we need now is a little more sun to go with and we would have lots of rainbows! Not complaining though as it's been quite mild so far this Fall.

Got Lost In the Eastern Oklahoma.

Kauai Waterfalls.

 These pictures are from helicopter ride in Kauai 2004.  Most of these pictures is not as sharp as I expected due to vibrations, and shooting through helicopter glass window.  However, if you in Kauai, this is must do, it's worth every penny.

Beside taking pictures, this is what I do on the Paradise.  

Old vs new

Ron's last two posts got me thinking I should have a look back at some of my older pictures... So I went waaay back to the very beginning... Christmas 1999 my wife gave me my first digital camera, a brand new 2mp Kodak DC 5000 digital camera. It was a good one too, cost her about the same as I paid for my D90 a couple of years ago!

The very next day I went out shooting. The top photo in this post is picture #0006 with the new Kodak. Go ahead, double click on it, have a close look, yes those are Eagles in the tree. I was so happy with my new camera! Now I cringe when I see my fuzzy old pictures... Ugh!

Today nearly 13 years later I took the bottom photo... Huge improvement in equipment since then! I can't help but wonder how much further along photography will be in another dozen years? Will I cringe when I look at my "old pictures" from 2012? Probably! LOL

Two more oldies

These two are from 2010 also. I took them the same week that I took the last photo I posted.

A little fall color

I'm digging around in the old files again. This one is from 2010.

Beavers Bend State Park.

This one came from 200-400mm lens, and the other 3 are from 17-35mm.

The top 3 are from Sunrise.  There is another Photographer from Dallas that he wouldn't share a spot on the dry dock with me.  Therefore, I have to shoot these pictures by standing in the water during a cold morning 30F.

To get in this shot, I have to requested this gentlemen to turn around and paddled in-front of me.  Also, I was holding the camera just 4" above the water at f/16.

Holiday Turkeys

TAILFEATHERS

 

Just at daylight I heard the sound of these Toms gobbling. Turkeys in the campground! Slowly raising the blinds in the travel trailer, this view started my day. Wings dropped, chests thrust forward with tailfeathers in full fan. Shuffling their feet thru the leaves while moving in a ritualistic slow pace, these guys were doing, or showing, their best attributes off for the hens in a dance!

 

 

HEY! Come Back!

 

At first the girls just moved on as if uninterested. Naturally the fellows kept the chase up while still displaying their best form!

 

 

Paired!

 

Finally the Hens made their choice and the Toms could relax their feathers!

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving To All!

 

P.S.

No birds harmed in these shots!

BUT

One of their domesticated cousins is sure offering up wonderful smells from the oven! 

 

 

Eagle eye

Found this good looking bird keeping an eye on my wife and I from a tall Cedar tree as we took our dogs out hiking several weekends ago. Took this with the Sigma 120-400 at 400mm and cropped the picture to about 50% of it's original size.

Don't be "Koi" with me

And some reflections too!

Sunsets

 

 

I am not sure if I had posted these or not. These were shot with my Nikon D80.